Q&A at the CAAMFest screening of The People's Hospital with Co-Director Jim Choi, Former SF Mayor Willie Brown, SF Supervisor Aaron Peskin, and CAAM Producer Don Young.
Documentary Short
Self Compassion
TakeCare
Editor
Short Film Series
I recently edited 3 films for Actual Films as part of the US Health Collaborative's TakeCare inspirational short film series focused on a theme close to my heart: the connection between Mind, Body, Spirit and Community. Portraits of different individuals on journeys to wellbeing from across the United States. Films included: Self Compassion (Florida), Harmony Through Healing (Chicago), and Peer To Peer Healing (Alaska).
Gathering at the river, Liminal (photo Chihiro Wimbush)
LIMINAL
Director/Producer/Editor
Broadcast: Valley PBS
At the Oakland Hatchlab in 2016, an incubator bringing NGOs, scientists, activists and mediamakers together around climate justice, I connected with the Insight Garden Program, bringing green gardens and skills to incarcerated men and women in prisons across California. After creating a short piece on IGP’s work in San Quentin Prison, I wanted to make a film about their work outside prisons for those recently released. Selected as one of ten finalists of the Big Tell by the Central Valley Community Foundation, Liminal, focuses on a day in the life of former lifer Arnold Trevino, as he helps recent parolees navigate life after prison, during pandemic, and reconnect to nature. It had it’s broadcast premiere on Valley PBS and is currently streaming on the PBS platform.
Filming nurse and medical staff tending to patient at The People's Hospital
THE PEOPLE'S HOSPITAL
Co-Director (with jim Choi), Co-Editor, Music Supervisor
TRT: 27 mins
World Premiere: CAAMFest 2017
Broadcast Premiere: San Francisco Public Television (KQED)
The People's Hospital documents the opening of the new Chinese Hospital in San Francisco's Chinatown, built on the grounds of the original 1925 hospital. It tells the tale of how a people who were once denied access to healthcare, empowered themselves to provide for their own community. The film features interviews with hospital staff and patients then and now, as well as former SF Mayor Willie Brown and the last recorded interview with San Francisco political powerhouse and community activist, Rose Pak.
THE RIDE
Micheal Smith on the morning drive to his trial in THE RIDE.
Editor, Music Supervisor
Awards: Spirit of Bernal Award 2017, Best Short Documentary International Black Film Festival of Nashville
Festivals: CAAMFest, Doclands, Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, Bernal Heights Outdoor Cinema, International Black Film Festival of Nashville
The Ride focuses on the intersection of three rides: the one taken by Michael Smith and his pregnant girlfriend on BART that ends with them thrown on the ground by BART police officers with guns drawn, the early morning drive where his lawyer, San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi picks Michael up in East Oakland to bring him to trial, and the ride Michael is taken on by an unjust justice system.
SF Public Defender Jeff Adachi in The Ride.
TOUCHING THE UNTOUCHABLE
Producer/Director (with Meena Srinivasan), Cinematographer, Editor
TRT: 8 mins
Awards: Spirit of Bernal Award, 2nd Place Dan Eldon Activist Award
Screenings: My Hero Film Festival, Bernal Heights Outdoor Cinema Festival, East Bay Meditation Center, San Quentin Prison
Streaming: Featured on Karmatube
A short film about the iconoclastic African-American Buddhist nun Pannavati and her journey to Tamil Nadu, India, after being asked for assistance by Gauthama Prabhu, leader of the Dalits, or “Untouchable” people there. The Dalits have reached out to her because as an African-American woman who grew up in the Civil Rights era, she would understand what it means to be disenfranchised as a people, and what it takes to assist and empower them. Together, they travel through Dalit colonies, trying to bring in desperately needed resources like water, food and education, and working to transform the Dalits own self-image, imposed from thousands of years of caste system oppression.
We also produced a discussion guide and curriculum to accompany the video with the idea of continuing the conversation beyond the film viewing and getting this into classrooms for teachers to share with their students. All ways to increase empathy and engagement and deepen impact for positive change. Find the link here: bit.ly/1akSqKg
Filming monks and nuns blessing the Untouchable farm workers, Tamil Nadu, India, Touching The Untouchable
DON'T LOSE YOUR SOUL
Director (with Jim Choi), Editor, Additional Camera
TRT: 27 mins
Premiere: Kansas City Film Festival CineJazz Showcase, LA Asian Pacific Film Festival, Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival Jazz Cinema Showcase
Broadcast: KQED, PBS as part of the series Japanese American Lives hosted by Kristi Yamaguchi
DONT LOSE YOUR SOUL is a half-hour documentary about Anthony Brown and Mark Izu, two of the founders of Asian American Jazz, fusing traditional Asian instrumentation with the freedom of jazz. Tracking their story from their family origins to the roots of their musical collaboration, the film culminates in a live performance celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the Asian American Jazz Festival, featuring a special appearance by George Yoshida, who brought the spirit of jazz inside the barbed wire fences of the internment camps back in the day. Music as an expression of freedom.
DLYS premiered at the Kansas City Film Festival’s CineJazz showcase and was broadcast locally in the Bay Area on KQED Public Television, then Comcast on Demand, before broadcasting nationally on PBS as part of the Japanese American Lives series hosted by Kristi Yamaguchi.
MARTIN YAN: A Simple Life
Director (with Jim Choi), Editor
TRT: 10 mins
Streaming: CAAMCHANNEL (Off The Menu)
A short profile of celebrity chef Martin Yan of “Yan Can Cook” fame. How do you get behind the image for a person who’s always on camera? We discovered the secret was to show Martin, not simply as he’s known on set, but as a cook at home in his kitchen, making his morning breakfast. As a result we got to see a different, more introspective side of the Martin Yan that normally fills the television screen.
THE TIME THAT LAND FORGOT
Producer/Director (with Jim Choi), Editor, Additional Camera
TRT: 9 mins
A profile of the late artist Peter Tobey and his unique artistic work. From inside an abandoned warehouse, deep in the misty wonderland of the Oregon wild, Tobey creates original art pieces from the children’s toy K’nex: floating pyramids and soaring, ticking grandfather clocks, mechanical works of genius from multi-colored plastic pieces. The piece is an ode to both the wild exterior and interior spaces of Tobey’s creative world.